IND Vs SA: "If India Lose To Us, Will You Label Them As Chokers?" Temba Bavuma
Published - 05 Nov 2023, 11:23 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:21 AM
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma was short of words for a brief moment when the ‘choker’ word was used during the pre-match press conference. South Africa has been one of the best sides of the tournament so far with the best Net Run Rate (NRR) in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Still, the knack of losing crucial matches has got them this tag of ‘chokers’ ever since they started taking part in the tournament in 1992.
No one can forget the semi-final in 1999, where a miscommunication between Lance Klusener and Allan Donald cost South Africa, one of the best teams of the tournament, a spot in the final. In 2007, Australia again shattered their dream by knocking out them in the semi-finals.
In 2011 and 2015, New Zealand produced consecutive heartbreaks by beating them in quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. The 2019 World Cup was the only one which saw the downfall of South Africa. They did not enter as favorites in the tournament and certainly didn’t play like one.
In this World Cup, South Africa is a team to beat and they are almost through to the semi-finals with six wins out of seven games already. The question is, will they be able to pull it off this time? Temba Bavuma was not happy with the ‘choker’ remark and went on to ask the journalist if they would make the same remark if India lost the game.
“You got two teams who are in-form, coming up against each other and I think it’s just a matter of who breaks first and who’s able to I guess, exploit that moment or that weakness. We understand that there will be pressure moments within the World Cup, moments that we’ve overcome to get to this point, and there will still be more. We’ll deal with them as best as we can. But yeah, I haven’t heard that word come up as of yet in the training,” he said.
Temba Bavuma conceded the “noise” around the team to shed the ‘underdogs’ or the ‘chokers’ tag has been growing with each successful outing. Still, the side would like to stay in the present and draw energy from the positive sentiments to continue their dream run and hopefully get the results that they all have worked so hard for.
“From the start of the tournament, we spoke about just trying to take it game by game, staying as present as we can. I believe we’ve done that very well,” Temba Bavuma said.
“The noise around the team, that’s grown, but I think it’s for us to control our spaces within the team. But, I guess, also draw energy from the positive sentiment that’s floating in and around the team.”
“It’s probably hard for us to keep going as the underdogs, but I think in terms of the team, everything still stays the same. We don’t see ourselves any different. We’ll still take it day by day, game by game.”
Temba Bavuma Wants To Play Two Spinners Against India
The match between South Africa and India will be played on a used Eden Gardens pitch. This is the same pitch on which Bangladesh and Netherlands locked horns so there might be something for the spinners to extract. Temba Bavuma expressed his choice of playing both Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi, both the spinners are effective and might cause trouble for the in-form Indian batters.
“Yeah, if the wicket assists the spinners, you’ll definitely see those two. If possible, I’d like to play both our front-line spinners, but we’ll see how that comes about.
“We are mindful of the fact that it won’t be like Delhi, where it’s a quick-scoring ground. We might have to graft a lot more. You might have to hit a lot more balls on the ground,” he said.
Temba Bavuma has been one of the weak links for South Africa in this tournament. First of all, he missed two matches in this World Cup due to an injury and secondly, he is averaging just 22.20 without having a single 50+ score to his name in this World Cup.
“I take comfort from the fact that I’ve been involved in some partnerships with Quinton (de Kock) upfront. Obviously, you want to extend it. Mentally, obviously, got to keep staying there. There’s still a lot of cricket to go within this tournament. I believe that I’ll have a part to play somewhere within the tournament,” Temba Bavuma added.
South Africa and India will battle out for the position of table toppers. Currently, India is at the top of the table with seven wins out of seven games and South Africa is just behind them, having lost just one game in this tournament, against the Netherlands. However, South Africa has a better NRR than India so if they are able to beat the hosts at Eden Gardens, they will claim their number one spot at the points table.
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ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 ICC ODI World Cup 2023 ICC World Cup 2023 South Africa national cricket team Temba Bavuma
